Erin Toner

The VA hospital in Milwaukee is shortening its residential mental health treatment programs. Doctors there say the shortened stay — from 90 to 45 days — will mean more intense treatment and will make it easier for veterans to transition back into society sooner. Some patients worry about being pushed out too soon.

With the country still digging its way out of the recession, banks have severely tightened lending to small firms — making it harder for many to get back on their feet. But Daphne Wilson, an entrepreneur in Milwaukee, Wis., didn't let being turned down by four banks stop her.

The U.S. Bowling Congress is considering moving its headquarters out of Milwaukee, a city where bowling is as popular as beer. The group says the cost of doing business in Milwaukee is too high. If it moves, it would be another blow to a city that has lost much of its blue-collar industrial heritage, from manufacturing to brewing.